Meet Laura McCutcheon - Winner of Fosroc ANZ's 2022 ROC Award

When Fosroc ANZ's Team Leader – Customer & Sales Support, Laura McCutcheon, received the 2022 ROC Award, it was more than just an acknowledgement of her performance. To Laura, it was the culmination of a 15-year journey with the organisation, a journey rich in professional growth, development, and change.

The ROC is a peer-nominated annual award that recognises passion, professionalism, and a deep commitment to Fosroc ANZ and its values. Laura, only the second recipient of The ROC, was humbled by the recognition. "This is not an individual award," says Laura. "To me, this award recognises the hard and important work of everyone in the customer service team. It's the people I work with that make my job so rewarding."

An expert, highly trained team

Laura leads a dynamic and highly skilled national customer service support team of 10 people based at Wetherill Park, NSW. The team plays a vital role in the smooth running of the Fosroc business, resolving queries from hundreds of customers as well as supporting the state-based sales specialists who rely on Laura's team to generate quotes, ensure orders are processed accurately, fulfilled as specified, and delivered on time.

"Fosroc is a direct-to-customer business," explains Laura. "Our support team is often the first point of contact for many of our customers. In a typical day, we would provide technical advice, answer product queries, update customer information, place and track orders and resolve issues."

Customer support team members undertake up to six weeks of intensive training before answering their first call. This includes becoming proficient in the use of multiple systems, learning how to locate stock across the Fosroc network, capture and communicate site specific delivery requirements, and track deliveries, and beginning the long process of developing deep product knowledge.

Laura says Fosroc's investment in training new recruits is reflected in the quality of their customer care and ultimately, the superior service the entire Fosroc team delivers.

15 years with Fosroc... and going strong

Reflecting on her 15-year career and recent award, Laura highlights Fosroc's progressive vision and commitment to continuous improvement.

"My customer service journey started 15 years ago at Alesco – who owned the Parchem business at the time”," says Laura. "When the Alesco (& Parchem) business was acquired by DuluxGroup, I moved to the NSW Parchem Customer Service team, and ultimately to the national Fosroc ANZ team as it operates today."

Laura has seen and embraced considerable change in operations, systems, and customer service models, all of which she says has improved outcomes for customers. Over the past eight years, state support teams have merged to become a national team, critical processes have been developed and streamlined, and a sophisticated CRM platform introduced to ensure detailed customer information is added and maintained and made available to both sales and support staff.

It's been a busy start to the year, says Laura, with significant growth in the use of Fosroc products across major Australian projects. Looking ahead to the next challenge, she is excited to be leading a project to bring Fosroc ANZ's New Zealand customer support under a single Australia and New Zealand customer support banner. Laura believes her team will embrace the transition.

The supportive leader

"Everyone in the customer support team cares about doing a great job. No one just 'ticks a box', " says Laura.

In championing her team, Laura says it’s important to empower staff to give them the tools and freedom to take responsibility for their own success. As ‘front line’ employees, their input and ideas are valued and heard, often leading to process improvements and wider company recognition.

"They all work so hard, which lifts team morale as well as performance,” says the humble 2022 ROC Award winner. “Ultimately, that leads to a superior customer experience."

If you need customer service support or advice about the right Fosroc ANZ products for your next project, please complete the form at the bottom of this page or call us on 1800 812 864 (AU)/ 0800 657 156 (NZ).